The management of supernumerary teeth in childhood--a retrospective study of practice in Bristol Dental Hospital, England and Westmead Dental Hospital, Sydney, Australia.

This study compared the treatment provided for patients with supernumerary teeth in Bristol Dental Hospital with those in Westmead Dental Hospital, Sydney, Australia. The records of 63 children referred for removal of a supernumerary tooth in Bristol and 96 children in Westmead were examined, involving a total of 215 supernumerary teeth. Differences in the treatment provided for these patients were found not only between the two centres but also within one centre. There appeared to be no standardised route by which these patients were seen and therefore no standardised pattern of treatment. Contact with all UK Dental Schools indicated that no formal treatment protocol existed for the treatment of children with supernumerary teeth. In addition, a permanent incisor associated with a conical supernumerary tooth was twice as likely to erupt spontaneously as one associated with a supernumerary of tuberculate form. The location of the supernumerary tooth also influenced the likelihood of spontaneous eruption of the associated permanent incisor. There is a need for a prospective randomised controlled trial in the future in order to develop a formal treatment protocol for the management of patients with supernumerary teeth. A multicentre trial is under development.